Edge Computing and how it Transforms Enterprises

THE DOPPLER

Our guest on the podcast this week is Don Duet, President and COO at Vapor IO.

We discuss the many definitions floating around for what edge computing is. Some call it fog computing or MEC (mobile edge computing). It is simple. It is a perspective that as the shift goes from wireless networks and person-to-person interaction to machine-to-machine interaction, underlying architectures must change along with that shift. For things like IoT and distributed data, they require reliability and speed at the source. Increased embeddedness from IoT to healthcare, finance to automotives requires lower latency and need solutions that are mass-scaled to meet distribution requirements.

There are many use-cases for edge computing. Many often think first of Fitbits or Amazon Echos. However, it is transforming enterprises and changing entire business models based on the access to real-time data on the edge. It’s used in places like industrial IoT where sensors and sound collection takes place in factories. Managing these at the source helps solve scalability issues. Hospitals are transforming into mobile computing labs. As this technology enters the operating room, it needs to be 100% reliable and fast because lives are on the line. Last, autonomous vehicles and drones use edge computing. Decision-making is brought closer to the device, reducing steps of communication that can result in errors or latency and could cause accidents. Clearly, edge computing is the future in many budding industries.